


The Fox and the Hound

by LLCoyote



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-13 14:11:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4525029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LLCoyote/pseuds/LLCoyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Forever is a long, long time... and time has a way of changing things."</p>
<p>Their friendship started out innocent enough. Two kids, both without dads, both with busy, working moms, with a mutual love for a movie. A friendship that grew into something more, into family, and love that weathered The Blackout. But when tragedy and fear work their way into the mix, a childhood friendship becomes a twisted hunt.</p>
<p>What do you do when the person you love the most, is the one you can trust the least?</p>
<p>**Follows a platonic relationship from child-adulthood that will connect to a Bass/OC story I'm writing. Triggers for drug use, mentions of prostitution/human trafficking, minor character death, kidnapping/captivity, and potential violence/domestic abuse.**</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so the summary warnings are mostly just potential elements, Idk which I'll include yet. This will be kind of an unnecessary add on to another fic I'm posting. I really feel like Connor got shit on when it came to character development, and I want to give him some more personality, something that isn't "whiny power hungry dick wad" or "mini Bass clone". Because of that you might notice some deviation from the character on the show. I will try to keep this to a minimum and work around the source material for Connor's personality.
> 
> This fic will most likely cover dark subject matter, as will the inappropriately dubbed (for lack of a better word) "romance" fic between the OC and Bass. 
> 
> Finally, this will lead into the comic series. I didn't particularly enjoy the comics, but I liked the idea of where I could take Monroe after them and the effect they'd have on my OC. There will be little to no mention of the Nanites because honestly I thought they were kind of lame from season one and they went bat shit crazy with them in season 2.

* * *

 

Tiny fingernails pick at the tightly stitched seams of a faded yellow couch. Her mom is in the next room, talking with his mom, and they’re both upset about something. It’s why she’s all dressed in black.

He’s seen her around before now, and not just because their moms are friends. Their school is tiny and she’s in the same class as him. His mom says he should be friends with her, but he’s not really sure why. He’s got friends already, and they like to laugh at her. Though he’s not really sure what’s funny. They laughed when Johnny Baker pushed her off the monkey bars on the first day and she cried. He didn’t know why they all laughed, because  _he_ didn’t like to cry, and Johnny got in trouble anyway.

From what he can remember she’s never been any fun. She always sits in the front of the class and when recess comes she hangs around the teachers. She always talks a lot and she’s got a boy’s name.  _Beck_. The teachers want to call her Tabitha, they say it’s her  _real_ name, but she never listens. She doesn’t listen either. He isn’t sure anyone really likes her, so why should he? They’ll just laugh at him too, because she was a girl (a weird girl) and he was a boy and the only time boys and girls played together was when they  _liked_ each other… But she was always around anymore, and his mom wouldn’t let him go to his room and watch tv, so he turned around and looked at her.

“Do you like movies?” It gets her to look up, and her eyes are all red; that meant she was sad. Instead of getting up he stretches out on his stomach and smacks his hand down on the pile of dvds by the tv. He paws at the one on top, his favorite, and shoves himself back up onto his knees, spinning around to face her again. He holds it up above his head so that she can see it better.

Her eyes get a little wide as she looks at the cover. “Fox and the Hound! That one’s the best!”

He’s a little shocked at that. Everybody always said girls like princess movies. Ones where they get all dressed up and dance and kiss. Which was gross. But she likes this one too, and it was his favorite.

The dvd player is old and it makes a buzzing noise as it opens and he roughly slaps the disk into its tray. When he turns back around she’s holding out the remote to him, and she’s actually smiling. She’s got a pretty face, he thinks, but not in the gross way. Not like he wants to  _kiss_ her, but in the way that it lights up and her eyes get all sparkly. Like Christmas tree lights when you plug the tree in the first time; almost shockingly bright, and it makes him happy to see it.

He leans against the couch, his legs spread out in front of him as he turns the tv up. She stays up on the seat, but she’s not picking at it anymore, and even though they’re quiet as the movie goes on, he’s pretty sure she’s happy. But she’s only happy until Todd has to go away. Then he can feel her go real still and hear her sniffle a little.

“I wish I could do that.” She mumbles, folding her legs and looking down at them.

He gives her a funny look. “Run away?”

She actually seems to think about that for a minute before shaking her head. “No. Go out to the woods, where there are no houses or anything. My dad used to take me out to the woods–but now he’s gone and nobody wants to go there with me.” She paused for a long time and picked at her nails. “Nobody wants to go anywhere with me.”

He felt bad for laughing at her then, because she wasn’t weird or anything, just all alone. She was actually nice. He gets up from the floor and sits down beside her on the couch, which makes her look up. Her are all red again and he doesn’t like that. His hands wring together in his lap as he tries to think of what to say. “Well–we could go together? Because my daddy is gone too. He was gone when I was just born and nobody ever took me to the woods.”

That brightens up her whole face, and she scoots in a little closer. “You really wanna go?”

He is pretty sure the answer was no. There are bugs in the woods, and it’s dirty, he’d get smelly after a little while, and there are probably big bears in the woods. But if he didn’t go then she’d be sad again, and she might even go on her own and get eaten by a bear. They were like Todd and Copper; they didn’t have dads to protect them from big scary things like bears, so they’d have to look out for each other. So he put on a smile and nodded at her, and she started bouncing in her seat.

“I’ll take you! And it’ll be fun.  _Lots_ of fun. I can be like Todd and you can be like Copper!”

“Why’re you Todd? You be the girl fox.” He laughed at that, and she just shrugged.

“No! She doesn’t do  _anything_ when someone goes after her friend, I’d do something.” She paused and wrapped her hands around her ankles, rocking back and forth excitedly. “Plus, your name is Connor, that sounds like Copper, and mama says men are hound dogs.”

He looked at her and tilts his head. “How come?”

Her face fell as she thought and them she shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Well fine. I’ll be the hound dog, and you can be the little fox.” He held out his hand for her to shake, to say they had a deal.

“And we’ll be friends right?” Her voice was skeptical, but he nodded quickly, his eyes darting over to the screen as the credits rolled.

“Always.”

They shake on it. Hard and fast until their arms cramp and they start laughing. He wasn’t sure why he said it, but he was pretty sure he meant it. Always.


	2. Starlight, Starbright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family." ~ Lee Iacocca

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to admit this isn't the strongest chapter in this story, but I feel like these last two were necessary to tell. It sets up Beck's relationship with Connor, and it shows you the mentality he has as a child that will ultimately warp and turn into something much more sinister in later chapters. This story is mostly about character development. I chose a platonic relationship to focus on for two reasons: to have a character that could travel with him and go through more with him than Emma, and also because, as I said, this fic goes hand in hand with another I'm writing about Bass/Beck.
> 
> Things do start to heat up after this, and perhaps not in the next chapter, but definitely in the one after that, we take a nose dive into dark shit. Please be aware of that as the story continues.

The lights went out and they haven't come back on. Five months. It's been five months. A lot of people in the town have died, the ones that needed doctors and stuff. Mrs. Karry, the old lady who worked in the lunch room died, so did Johnny Baker and his parents.

He's never seen death like this before. These aren't just people on the tv dying, they are real people that he knows. For a while they tried to bury them, but even in their little town, there were just too many dead ones. Now they take them out of town. Beck says they burn them, but he's never seen it and doesn't want to. People were supposed to go in the ground, with big tombstones that were clearly marked with their name so that everyone could remember them. Burning them seems like the worst thing to do. Who would remember them now? If their families came to town, would they even know their mother or sister or cousin was dead? Would anyone think to tell them? He didn't like to think about it. It still made him sick.

Everyone that is alive is hungry. Most the food in the grocery stores has gone bad by now. Some people who lived up the road came into town with their horses and carts. Mino--somethings. His mom says they didn't use power before the light went off anyway. They need the town for protection, so they moved in. Without them, a lot more people would have died. They say that there's enough food for the winter now, if they can keep the "looters" away.

His mom doesn't like it when he leaves the house, because there are no police to keep people safe anymore. She trusts the people of the town, but there's always a risk of strangers. He's only seen strangers a few times, but the people that used to be the police, and a lot of the other men chase any new comers away. His mom doesn't want to take any chances though. He's not supposed to go outside alone. But he sneaks out, because Beck's always sneaking out.

If the power being off bothers her, she doesn't show it. She's stubbornly happy and gets mad when anyone points out how bad things are to make her sad. He kind of likes it though, because someone's got to be happy sometime.

"What's the point?" She asks, her arms wobbling as they spread out wide. He holds out his hands to steady her (because he already told her not to walk on the fence and she didn't listen) but she doesn't fall, only grins at him. "What's the point of being alive if you can't enjoy it? My dad used to say that."

She hops down with and "umph" and he shakes his head at her.

"People are cold and hungry." To emphasize his point he kicks up a cloud of powdery snow. And right now, he's cold in particular. They've been walking for a long time and the frigid air is biting at his cheeks; making his eyes water. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Ok, that part sucks. But it sucks less than being dead."

She has a point, but he doesn't tell her that. She really doesn't need any encouragement to put her head up in the clouds. At least that's what her mom says. And she doesn't tell him where they're going either, but he hopes it's close. Not only is he cold, and not only does he not know where they are, and not only had they been told _not_ to leave the house alone, but it is Christmas morning (or maybe it is still Christmas Eve, because it's still pitch black out), and even if there isn't anything to really celebrate, their moms have been trying anyway. They were going to be furious if they woke up and he was off with Beck.

The blonde stops when they reach the chain link gate that surrounds the old high school. He grabs hold of her jeans when she goes to climb it so that she can't keep going. In response she kicks at him and misses.

"You're gonna make me fall!" She snaps, wiggling her hips and doing her best to pull away.

"Nobody is supposed to go in there." He snips right back, matching her glare with one of his own.

Beck just raises and eyebrow at him, and he can already see the little grin forming on her lips. "Well _nobody_ is here to stop us either."

He smiles when she does (reluctantly, but it's there) and lets her go so that she can scramble up to the top. She makes an uncomfortable face as she straddles the icy bar at the top and waves to him. "It's slippery. Careful."

"If _you_ can do it--" He pauses and curls his fingers around the frozen fence, "So can _I_."

His boots slip and clash against the wet metal as he slips and growls and paws his way to the top, where he holds on for dear life as he tries to catch his breath. How could his chest burn so much when it was so cold outside?

Beck snorts as she starts to climb down. "Well--you _sure_ proved me wrong."

"Shut up." He opts to jump and immediately regrets it as shooting pain runs through his feet and nearly drops him to his knees. Despite his practically crippled state, Beck's already got his hand and is pulling him along, jerking his arm until he runs with her around the side of the school. Somewhere between the gate and the sidewalk in the back her tugging turned into a pushing match and she took off in front of him. If he knew where they were going he could have ran faster and beaten her there. Her legs were short and she had already tripped four times in the snow.

They go over a dumpster, through a broken window, and down a maze of dark, dusty hallways that Beck navigates like a pro. She finally shoves all of her weight against an emergency door. He has to help, but they manage to push it open just enough for both of them to slip through and up onto the roof. Beck perches herself by the edge and crosses her legs, he lazily drops down and swings his legs over the ledge. He isn't sure why she looks so excited.

"We came all this way to sit on a roof? In the cold? In the middle of the night?" He's a little confused, but he's not really angry. Beck is like this, always dragging him all over, and he likes it. Without her he'd probably be content just to wander around the house. He isn't _afraid_ or anything he just--doesn't feel any need to leave. Not until Beck leaves, then he goes with her, because he worries, and in the end they always have fun.

"There aren't any Christmas lights anymore." She says as she looks up at the sky. "The stars are the only ones we've got. I figured if that was it, we should at least find a place where we can really see 'em."

"Our moms are gunna kill us." He grumbles as he scoots around in the snow, rubbing his face with one of his icy gloves. She nods in agreement but just keeps looking up at the sky. And he's cold and hungry and tired from the whole trip--but he looks up to indulge her.

To his surprise it's actually kind of nice. It's the first time anything's felt peaceful since the lights went out. Everything feels-- _ok_. The Blackout took a lot of things (cars, toys, food, _lives_ ) but it hadn't taken away his family. When he went to bed every night his mom still told him she loved him, and when he woke up Beck would be around somewhere, bouncing in her seat and ready to drag him into all sorts of trouble. Things aren't normal anymore, and sometimes they are down right awful, but right now, everything is ok.

Right now it is quiet and it feels like they re the only two people in the world. She'd dragged him all the way out here to make him happy, even though it is cold and she knows that she'll get in trouble, and he'd followed her to make her happy. It isn't like that with his other friends. Beck is different; constantly trying to make him smile. Him being happy is enough to make her happy, and that kind of makes up for the all of the crazy stuff that's happening. At least, it is for right now.


	3. The Ones You Love and Leave (part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this will be quick and boring. Mostly because this is already written and I honestly, I wouldn't rewrite it in the style I wanna take this to. 
> 
> So yeah, I'm going to be doing less summarizing and more focusing on set events like one shots after this (and the connecting) chapter. There won't be a lot of context about what happens in between but I feel like it'll still be really easy to follow. If not, tell me and I'll change it up. I think there will be more emotion with a different style. Sorry about this. May rewrite the first chapters eventually, Idk.

  
There's a dirty, surly looking man on their porch, and Connor isn't sure how he got there. Jasper didn't have any walls or anything, but they'd come up with a pretty good watch system. They had dogs and everything. He can't understand how any one would have gotten past all of them without someone sounding the alarm bell (which used to be used to keep track of time at an old church). Because he wasn't the sort of man they let into town. He was dirty; his shirt stained with what he guessed was alcohol (because if he wasn't currently drunk, he had been recently) and splotches of blood here and there. Big splotches. There was a gun on one of his hips and a sword on the other and of all things he rode into town on a horse.

Horses are a big deal now. They'd had a horse for a while. Beck's father had been a "rancher", and when he died her grandpa had his horse shipped all the way up to Jasper. She'd had it for years before The Blackout, but lost it to looters a year after. The same ones that killed her mom. Stabbed her right in front of Beck, and she was gone before him and his mom even got out of the house to help. Connor shakes his head, he doesn't want to think about that. It'd been awful. If something like that ever happened to his mom...

He hides behind the wall by his windowsil to watch as his mom answers the door. She'd  _made_ them go back to his room, and she'd said to get in the closet. For once in their lives, Beck was the one who had instantly listened, and she'd spent the last whole minute whispering loudly and chucking shoes at him in hopes he'd crawl in behind her. It isn't going to happen. If he has to he'll pull the window open and climb out onto the porch, he will. He won't lose his mom the same way Beck had. No matter what.

Connor catches an old brown boot as it hurls towards his head and chucks it back at the closet so hard that Beck shuts the door instead of ducking. "You're _stupid_." He hears though the slanted strips of white wood.

"Would you shut up for once in your life? For like, five seconds." He hisses back, turning just in time to see the man straighten up. He can't see from where he is, but he's guessing the door opened. Connor holds his breath, he feels his heart start to pound in his chest, and then not a second later, his mom practically leaps out the door and wraps her arms around him. His mouth falls slack as the man embraces his mom softly at first. The look on his face; it's like he can't believe that she's real. After a moment his embrace gets tighter, and he buries his face in her hair. The man isn't hurting her, but Connor still feels rage bubble up in his chest.

Who did this guy think he was? Putting his dirty hobo hands all over his mom, and her hugging him like he was Jesus in the flesh on her door step? Connor turned on his heel and headed for the door. It prompts a groan from the closet and in a heartbeat, Beck has managed to scramble over the mountain of shoes and stumble to his side. They're half way down the hall by the time she gets enough leverage to pull him to a stop.

"What is wrong with you?" She pants, too out of breath from their tug-of-war to put any anger into her tone.

"What? Am I just supposed to stand here while that guy assalts my mom?"

She rolls her eyes. "Don't do this."

"Do-" He cuts himself off and slaps a hand over her mouth, shoving them both up against the wall as he hears his mom head to the kitchen. The sound of heavy boots on the carpet follows after her. She'd let him _in_! Connor makes a point to shoot Beck a glare as if to say "see?" but she only groans as he pulls away to slink down the hall. She's not nearly as dramatic, following along at a regular pace with her arms crossed and a scowl pulling at her lips.

By the time they make it to the kitchen he can hear muffled sniffles from his mom, and is curling his fingers into fists. They're holding hands over the table, but that's all he can tell. He can't either much either, they're too quiet.

"But how did--" That's the man but his voice trails off. His mom answers but he can't understand a word through her tears. "It doesn't matter--Bass--no--not right--lost them, Shelly and the baby." There's a gasp of what he assumes is mild horror from his mother before she sniffles and continues to listen silently. "It's an army--taking over--and laws--this kid's not safe."

That is more than enough. His ears are practically hurting from the strain. He didn't notice Beck had a steel grip on his pantsleg until he goes to take a step and moves an inch at most.

"No!" She mouths forcefully, pulling on him in an almost pleading way.

He responds with an equally as quiet and meaningful, "yes!" before pulling out of her grasp and making his was to the kitchen.

The first thing that strikes him is his mom has been crying. Her eyes are bloodshot and her face is red. She's sitting at the corner of the table, and the man is seated at the end, his hands are covering hers and she's leaning towards him. The second she sees him enter the room, his mother straightens up, and wipes her eyes. The man clears his throat and shifts on the hard kitchen chair.

"Connor! I--I told you to go to your room."

"Why are you crying?" His voice is tense and his expression is furious as he crosses his arms over his chest. His mom beckons him forward with a wave of her hand and he goes, but unhappily. He shoots a look to Beck, but she doesn't move into the kitchen with him.

His mom wipes a few strands of imaginary hair from his eyes as she gathers what he can only guess is her nerves. "Connor this is a--very old friend of mine. His name is Miles."


	4. The Ones You Love and Leave (part 2/2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone know how I stop my end of chapter notes from showing the same note over and over on every chapter. Like, that note started being relevant by chapter 2.
> 
> Anyway, here's some angst. There's more focus on Connor/Emma than anything. Not sure if I'm going to get into dark shit in this chapter or the next but the tides are turning. You see Connor start to change here, and this feeling of protectiveness will turn to possessiveness. Is Bass' crazy genetic? I'm inclined to say yes :P

"What do you mean, leave?" Connor asked. He felt sick, he felt numb, confused, angry, terrified, there was no real way to describe everything he was feeling. His eyes darted from his mother to Miles and then back again. Over and over. One of them had to crack a grin and say it was all some stupid joke. It wouldn't be a funny joke, but it had to be a joke. Connor took a step backwards as his mother reached out for him. He could see the pain in her eyes; her tears welling up and making them look like glass.

"Things won't be safe here soon. And you're aunt and uncle..."

"I don't care about them!" His shouting practically shook the room. Connor balled up his fists. "If it's not safe for me it won't be safe for you either! I won't go! I'm not going!"

The man his mom called "Miles", ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward to rest his forearms on his legs. "Look, kid, things are getting bad out the-"

"You shut up!" He screamed forcefully. "This is your fault! So you just--just shut up!"

"Connor!" His mother exclaimed, looking absolutely shocked. He expected her to say more, but instead she threw a pleading look to Miles, who nodded grimly. He slunk out of the room without another word.

After a long stretch of silence his mother slid off the couch. Resting on her knees she wiped her eyes quickly before taking his hands. Her voice was low and gentle when she spoke. "I love you. More than _anything_ else Connor. Do you hear me? More than _anything_. And nothing, I mean nothing, will ever change that. No matter where you go, or what you say, or what you do, I will love you." She bit back a host of tears as she ran her hand through his hair. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me... But I need you to go with Miles."

"Mom no! I-"

" _Yes_. You're going to go Connor. I can't go, no matter how much I want to. It'll be easier if it's just you, and I need to take care of the people here. You need to go. Go where you've got the very best chance." Her voice was firm but quiet. There was a finality in it that made his heart sink.

"What about Beck?" He managed to ask, trying as hard as he could not to let his voice crack. He couldn't lose them both. He couldn't leave everything behind and just go with this man, to stay with people he didn't even know! They weren't his family. You had to know family, you had to love them. He'd only just heard these peoples' names just this morning! What if they were mean? They probably were. And they probably wouldn't want him anyhow. They wouldn't want to take in a kid. Not when everyone was hard pressed for food. He didn't want to stay with them anyway. He wanted to stay here with his mom and with Beck.

"I can take care of Beck, sweetheart." She said gravely, knowing the comment would make him angry. And boy did it ever.

"No!" Connor jerked his hands away and stepped back. "No! I won't go alone! We promised! We promised we'd look out for each other."

His mom didn't understand Beck. She never had. And Beck's mom hadn't understood her either. It was just him. He was the only one that got her. He was the one that had to look out for her. And she had to look out for him too. It was what they did--and they couldn't do that if they weren't... them. No. Connor shook his head. He wouldn't leave her.

"I'll just run away!" He snarled, balling his hands into fists at his side as if preparing for some great battle. "I won't go alone! I'll run all the way back from Mexico if I have to!"

His mother stared at him for a long moment. Maybe she could sense his overwhelming terror that he thinly veiled with his anger, or maybe she was just too sad and too tired, but she sat back on her heels very quietly and folded her hands in her lap. She didn't look up at him for a very, very long time. When she finally did look up, she grabbed him behind the head and pressed her lips against his forehead.

"Go and get Beck." She whispered, her eyes bleary from tears and her hands trembling as they surrounded him. "The two of you need to pack."

Connor swallowed the knot in his throat and hugged his mother, but he didn't cry. He had to be strong for her, even if he was scared. He wouldn't let her see how hurt he was, how much he hated being sent away. He didn't cry.

He pulled back and turned around, heading for his room and slamming the door behind him furiously, rubbing his face with his hands. He snatched a suitcase from the closet and threw it towards the bed, pausing when he didn't hear it land.

"When did you get here?" He stared quizzically a Beck, who was uncharacteristically silent. "How much did you-"

"All of it." Her tone was gentle and made him shake. He'd always been so honest with Beck. Beck wasn't like his mom. She wasn't scared easy and rarely got her feelings hurt. No matter what he said she wouldn't get him in trouble. And now it was just habit. The way she looked at him... he couldn't keep it in.

Connor sat down beside her and tried to find the words, Beck wrapped her arms around him protectively, and the last of his resolve broke.

"It'll be ok." She mumbled, hugging him tighter as he buried his head in her neck. "It'll be me and you... I'll go where ever you do."

Connor's nails dug into the soft fabric of her t-shirt, and he cried like he was dying.

It felt like he was.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think. Style wise this is new for me and while I've had a writer friend of mine review it, I can always take more input. If anyone is in the particular mood to beta read this or my other fic for me I'd love you forever.


End file.
